Help / Installation

Getting Perch up and running on your server is really simple:

1. Step 1: Download and unzip the folder
2. Step 2: Put the perch folder and contents into your website home directory
3. Step 3: Go to /perch/setup in your browser on the server and complete the form
4. Step 4: Copy the generated code
5. Step 5: Final steps

Step 1: Extract the Perch zip

After purchasing Perch you will be able to download the software. Save the zip file somewhere on your computer and unzip it. Inside you will find a file called example.php (which shows you how to add Perch to a page) and a folder named perch which is the Perch software.

Perch unzipped

Step 2: Put the perch folder into your website home directory

You can ignore the example.php for now and simply copy the perch folder into your home directory. If you are setting Perch up directly on your hosting company server then FTP the entire folder to the home directory there. If you are going to try Perch out on your own computer you wil need to place it into your site.

The perch folder in my website folder on my Mac - the index.html is the homepage of my site.

Step 3: Go to /perch/setup in your browser on the server and complete the form

You now need to go to your website using a browser - either on your live webserver or on a local server and visit the page /perch/setup - so if your website address is http://www.example.com visit http://www.example.com/perch/setup.

You need to visit this page through a web server, as PHP needs to run, so if you are working on your own computer you need to be running a webserver with PHP and MySQL. In the examples I am running MAMP on my Mac - which is why the URL is perchdemo.deck and not a live domain name.

The Perch setup page

The setup page gathers all of the information to run Perch and also to set up an initial user account.

License Key

This is the key you will have been provided with when purchasing Perch.

About You

This information will create your initial user account and will have full admin privileges. You can create accounts for your client once Perch is set up.

Install Location

This is where the perch folder lives in your site. If you have renamed the folder or put it anywhere other than the root of your site check that this location is correct.

Database settings

This will enable Perch to log into your database and create tables. If installing Perch on a webhost you will have been provided with these details along with your account. You need to have a database created for Perch to use, so if you are working locally or are able to create databases on your host make sure the database you name here is already created.

Once you have entered all of this information click the 'next step' button. Perch will generate a chunk of configuration code for you.

Step 4: Copy the generated code

Perch generates your configuration code

Copy the chunk of PHP code to your clipboard, making sure you get the whole block.

Inside the perch folder is a folder called config, inside that is an empty file named config.php. Open this file in a text editor (such as the editor you use to edit HTML and CSS) and copy in the code that you copied. Save this file.

If you are setting up Perch directly on your live server then transfer this file to the config directory in Perch on the server.

Click "I've done that" and Perch will get to work creating your database tables and creating your initial user account.

Success! Your database tables have been created and user set up

Step 5: Final steps

In order to allow file uploads you need to make the perch/resources folder writable. If you are using a Linux or Unix server then you should be able to do this using your FTP client. You will need to set the permissions to 755 or higher - depending on your host. If uploads fail then it is likely that the server cannot write to this folder.

Using an FTP client to set folder permissions

You should also find the folder perch/setup and delete it from your server.

You are now all set and ready to start editing content using Perch! Read our simple guide to creating your first editable page with Perch.